Taiwan orchids, new lucrative industry

(Taiwan) Applying technology and science in the field of horticulture, especially orchid plants, Taiwan is rapidly becoming a major exporter of orchid plants in the world, bringing in an income of $17 million dollars in export sales of orchid plants last year. [restrict]

Orchid, a tropical to temperate climate plant, desired in most countries as ornamental plant, is expensive to grow, taking over a year to go from seedling to a flowering plant.

The technology involved in getting almost invisible seeds from the flowers and creating seedlings, to creating more plants from taking cuttings from stems of orchids and re-creating more orchids, is a labor intensive and expensive process to most countries.

Taiwanese, in their usual practical use of science, have succeeded very well in this process and have managed to turn selling of young plants and seedlings to huge export.

Many countries in the world prefer to buy orchid plants from Taiwan that are already grown and only have to spend 3 months growing before they become flowering plants.

As a result, United States has become the largest importer of orchids from Taiwan, followed by Japan. Phalaenopsis is the most popular orchid for export, representing 65.5% of all orchids exported from Taiwan.

Innovation and science in every field, including agriculture and horticulture industry, is creating new business opportunities for the Taiwanese people. Such proven science can be learned and applied across many countries with tropical climate such as Palau and Pacific island countries. [/restrict]